UK Security Business Market Report 2026

The UK security sector is one of the largest and most fragmented parts of the wider protective-services and building-services market. For business owners considering their exit strategy, understanding the current dynamics is essential to timing a sale correctly and achieving the best possible outcome.

One point matters before any of the numbers: security is not a single market. A labour-led manned guarding market sits alongside a higher-margin electronic systems and monitoring market, and the two are sized, traded, and valued very differently. This report covers both, drawing on published market research and official statistics, including IBISWorld market sizing, GOV.UK Security Industry Authority licence data, and Grant Thornton's fire and security M&A review, alongside the acquisition appetite we see across our buyer network.

Market Size and Structure

The UK Private Security Services market, covering manned guarding, patrol services, and related operations, is valued at approximately £9bn, served by around 6,460 businesses. The market is broadly flat, moving with low single-digit annual change, and major operators include Mitie Security, G4S Secure Solutions (UK), and OCS Group. Separately, the UK Security System Services market, covering the installation, monitoring, and maintenance of alarms, CCTV, and access control, is valued at around £2.1bn in 2026. This is the higher-margin, recurring-revenue end of the sector, distinct from the labour-intensive guarding market.

Source: IBISWorld, Private Security Services and Security System Services in the UK, Market Size, 2025/2026.

The regulated workforce is large. There were more than 500,000 active SIA licences in issue in early 2025, held by around 459,000 individuals, with the active total exceeding the holder count because some operatives hold more than one licence. By licence type, the largest categories are door supervisor (354,580), public space CCTV surveillance (61,004), and contract security guarding (58,348), followed by close protection (12,046). That weighting shows how heavily the licensed workforce sits in manned and event security rather than electronic systems.

Source: GOV.UK, SIA Licence Holders statistical data set, 2025; Professional Security Magazine, 2025.

Both markets are highly fragmented, with a large base of owner-managed businesses, particularly below £1m EBITDA. That fragmentation creates a significant opportunity for acquirers seeking to build scale through consolidation, and it means there is a deep pool of potential acquisition targets for private-equity-backed platforms.

Demand Drivers

Several structural forces are increasing demand for security services and, by extension, the value of established security businesses.

Martyn's Law

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, known as Martyn's Law, received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025, with an implementation period of at least 24 months before it comes into force, so from around spring 2027. It requires those responsible for qualifying premises and events to prepare for and reduce vulnerability to terrorist attack, with the SIA appointed as regulator. This is a structural demand driver for security assessments, training, manned guarding at venues and events, and electronic security upgrades.

Source: GOV.UK / Home Office, Martyn's Law Factsheet, April 2025.

The PSTN Switch-Off

Openreach has confirmed 31 January 2027 as the deadline for switching off the analogue PSTN telephone network, delayed once from December 2025. Legacy intruder alarms, fire systems, and CCTV that still signal over copper PSTN lines will fail silently after migration, forcing a large-scale upgrade to IP and cellular alarm signalling. For monitored alarm and ARC businesses, this turns a compliance deadline into new recurring signalling revenue, and it has become a standard due-diligence question for any buyer of a monitoring book.

Source: BT Business / Openreach guidance, 2025.

Regulation and Accreditation

Buyers price accreditation heavily because it underpins tender eligibility, insurance, and self-certification. SIA Approved Contractor Scheme status, NSI Gold or SSAIB certification, BS 7858 staff vetting, and operation to the EN 50131, 50132, 50136, and 50518 standards all make a business a lower-risk, higher-value acquisition. Demand for accredited capacity is rising as more public and corporate tenders require it as a prerequisite.

Source: Grant Thornton, UK Fire and Security Sector M&A Review 2025.

M&A and PE Consolidation Activity

The UK fire and security sector is a focal point for private-equity-backed consolidation. In 2025, 70 per cent of UK fire and security transactions involved PE-backed corporates or pure private equity, up from 57 per cent in 2024, the highest PE concentration of any facilities-services subsector. The sector remains highly fragmented, particularly below £1m EBITDA, which is precisely the pool that buy-and-build platforms target.

Named consolidators active in the market include:

• New Path Fire & Security, backed by Duke Capital, with 14 acquisitions to date
• ABCA Systems, recapitalised with Trimountain Partners in 2025

Across the wider UK and US security solutions market, 2025 saw 242 M&A deals, up 24.1 per cent year on year, with private-equity buyers accounting for close to half of all activity. Within that, the uniformed guard segment recorded a 150 per cent year-on-year jump in deal volume, albeit from a small base of nine deals, partly driven by public bodies turning to private guarding amid police staffing pressures. Mitie remains the dominant UK listed player with around £1.18bn of UK security turnover, with Allied Universal and G4S at roughly £710m.

Source: Capstone Partners / Security Info Watch, How Capital and Consolidation Shaped the Security Industry in 2025.

These PE-backed platforms and trade buyers are actively seeking businesses with recurring monitoring revenue, current accreditation, TUPE-stable contracts, and retained, licensed teams. They typically focus on businesses with the right quality profile rather than a single turnover band, and the appetite for owner-managed targets below £1m EBITDA is unusually strong.

Valuation Trends

What a security business sells for depends heavily on its revenue mix. Current indicative ranges across the sector:

• 3x to 8x EBITDA: manned guarding operations, with well-run firms more commonly in the 3.5x to 6.5x range, reflecting thin margins and labour-dependent earnings
• 3x to 5x EBITDA: small owner-managed alarm monitoring firms
• 6x to 10x EBITDA: integrated electronic security businesses
• 10x to 15x or more EBITDA: scaled, PE-backed platforms with high recurring revenue
• 30x to 45x monthly RMR: monitoring and alarm receiving centre businesses valued on Recurring Monthly Revenue rather than EBITDA

By revenue tier, security systems businesses turning over £1m to £3m typically achieve 3.5x to 4.5x EBITDA, £3m to £10m businesses 5x to 6.5x, and £10m to £50m businesses 7x to 9x. A verifiable reference point: Mitie acquired R H Irving, an electronic security systems business, for £19.1m against around £2.4m EBITDA, a multiple of close to 8x, in May 2023.

Source: DealFlowAgent, Security Systems Valuation Multiples and Sell Your Security Business 2026 Guide, April 2026; Business Sale Report, May 2023.

One caveat on smaller businesses: no trade body publishes reliable EBITDA multiples specifically for sub-£1m-EBITDA UK manned guarding businesses. The general SME proxy range for owner-managed businesses of that size is roughly 3x to 5x EBITDA, and that should be treated as a proxy only, with guarding likely at the lower end given thin margins and owner dependence.

The BADR tax rate increase from 14 per cent to 18 per cent on 6 April 2026 is creating additional urgency among owners who were already considering their exit. The lifetime limit is unchanged at £1m of qualifying gains, but the maximum saving on a £1m gain has fallen to £60,000, and anti-forestalling rules mean signing before the deadline does not lock in the older rate if completion follows.

Source: Brodies LLP, Business Asset Disposal Relief, March 2026; HMRC Capital Gains Manual CG64174.

What This Means for Business Owners

The current market conditions are favourable for sellers. Buyer demand is strong, private equity is deploying capital actively, and the structural demand drivers, namely Martyn's Law, the PSTN switch-off, and rising accreditation requirements, provide a compelling narrative for acquirers. Businesses with recurring monitoring revenue and current accreditation are particularly sought after.

However, the market will not remain this strong indefinitely. Interest rate movements, PE fund deployment cycles, and political changes can all affect buyer appetite. Owners considering an exit within the next two to three years should, at minimum, understand their current valuation and begin preparation.

The owners who achieve the best outcomes are those who start preparing 12 months before they go to market: cleaning up financials, formalising contract documentation, confirming ACS, NSI or SSAIB accreditation and BS 7858 vetting are current, migrating monitored accounts off the PSTN, and reducing owner dependence.